Unity Part I

Einstein once said that coincidences were God’s way of staying anonymous. I don’t know about that, but I do know that Christians are blessed often by things that the world would call a coincidence. You may call them God touches or God winks, but we have all had them. I experienced one today.

For the last few days, I had not been living in the rest and peace we are called to. I was saddened as I witnessed so many in the body judging one another for how they respond to the pandemic or politics or else were simply not demonstrating Christ’s peace as I have failed to do. Arrogance, pride, and condescension abound around me in people who normally lead others in developing meekness and Christ’s goodness. I felt the Lord calling me to seek Him on all this for the blog, but first I needed a quiet time for Him to minister to me in general and to open myself up to Him to deal with my own heart before I started to write.

I picked up a women’s devotional book on I Peter 3-5 that Church of the Apostles Women’s Ministry published last year. It should have been packed up months ago and in my basement, but I looked over and there it was. I opened the book to a random spot, hoping to see a devotional from one of my sisters that would address my own failures and lift my heart to a more Godly view of the current state of The Church and our nation.

Instead, God had me open the book to a devotional I wrote long ago on unity. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I have shared it below with you, with Part II coming very soon. God is not finished with this topic in my life yet.

I Peter 3:8-9

“8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

I Peter 3:9 tells us not to fall in with the rest of the world who routinely, when reviled, revile right back. That is the “what not to do” in this passage. But it is the next admonition that will impact my life. He exhorts us to “bless,” a strong verb. In other words, “Go out and bless as oppose to revile.” “Be active in blessing others.” “Look for ways to bless others.” “Make your life more intentional in blessing others.” Why? Verse 9 says, “bless, for to this you were called.”

Have you ever wondered why you were put on this earth? What your calling is? This verse tells us we were called to bless. What a high calling! And you have to go low to achieve this high calling because to bless others usually means to serve them. It means to return kindness when they have been unkind or short with you or not held up their part. Bless them anyway. There is much talk today about aspirational living. To me, this verse nine says it all.

The motivation of your heart is not, of course, to bless others just so you can be blessed. You bless them because you have “brotherly love” and “a tender heart,” instilled in you by Christ Jesus. But isn’t it lovely we are blessed as well? And even when we do not see that blessing on earth, we know that we are seeing only a fraction of what God is doing on our behalf in the Heavenlies and will do throughout eternity.

If we stepped out into the world each day knowing we were born to bless others, I think the “unity of mind” part, the sympathy, the brotherly love, and the humility to bend low to accommodate others would come quite naturally. “